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Keeping personal taste at bay

How can we be sure, as designers, that feedback is based on whether the design is right for the job, rather than the personal taste of the person giving the feedback?

In my video interview with Jane Austen at The Telegraph, she describes how she and her team approach feedback. One of the world’s most successful news sites, the site relies heavily on top notch UX design to consistently improve and deliver quality user journeys.

So the design team, who are often under extreme time pressure, have to be clear on what works and what doesn’t. This is the only way they can deliver successful design solutions.

In the interview Jane describes the processes they have in place to give designers constructive feedback that keeps personal taste at bay.

I covered this issue in a talk I gave recently. The advice ‘Think, don’t react’ chimed with designers I chatted to afterwards.

Basically, getting people who are giving feedback to think about the design for a few minutes can work wonders.

This small amount of thinking time can make the difference between ‘I don’t like the colours because I’d never have them in my apartment’ to ‘Will this colour communicate well our brand values?”

What do you think? How do you handle feedback? What measures do you put in place to handle personal taste?